Thanks guys for your thoughts. Apparently these as a general rule, cause no harm and stop by age six. I did the right thing which was lie him flat, head slightly elevated and checked his airway, next time I will lie him on his side though.
Its just damn freaky and I only recalled the last episode after I had been on the phone a few minutes, I feel fine now (with the aid of a Steinlager) whereas last time it was the worst shock I ever had.
They still said to call 111 if it recurs to be safe, so I'm good with that, and as I say emergency services are great 7 minutes to the house from dialing last time, 10 this time only cos it was busy

nostromo wrote:Thanks guys for your thoughts. Apparently these as a general rule, cause no harm and stop by age six. I did the right thing which was lie him flat, head slightly elevated and checked his airway, next time I will lie him on his side though.
Its just damn freaky and I only recalled the last episode after I had been on the phone a few minutes, I feel fine now (with the aid of a Steinlager) whereas last time it was the worst shock I ever had.
They still said to call 111 if it recurs to be safe, so I'm good with that, and as I say emergency services are great 7 minutes to the house from dialing last time, 10 this time only cos it was busy

Well done nostromo! Here's hoping you don't get too many more of these...

Man oh man, dont know what to say but you really get thrown some curve balls. I feel for you, I know our boys are quite a similar age so when I read about the troubles you are working through, it just makes me feel so relieved, and somewhat ashamed that I occasionally have a whinge about mine being difficult or whatever. Really I just count myself damn lucky. Keep up the good work fella

God that would scare the crap outta me. As Dented said makes mine seem easy.

Good luck. Have another beer.

Jeez Nostromo - you must wonder what else the parenting gods are gonna chuck at you. Damn scary stuff, but sounds like your learning curve is ramping up nicely - learning as we go is all we can ever really do with stuff like this - heart goes out to you and family. Kia Kaha and enjoy each day, as we know not what tomorrow brings.

Hope the wee-man is ok and your family are coping Nostromo.
Our boy (2.5yrs) choked on a plum stone a month ago, and ended up having his first trip to A&E, that was a freak-out too.

I strongly recommend folk do a first aid course every few years, especially parents.

Also do you have a decent digi-thermometer? Our one has been a real comfort when the kids have been burning up.

Good luck guy

Hey Nostromo,

If I can offer you and your partner a few words of encouragement. My daughter is epileptic, so I know exactly how you feel having to see/deal with the first few episodes. I can assure you that *IF* they continue they all become a matter of fact, even in a public place you just kick into parent mode and sort them.

Also my daughters seizures are completely controlled now by medicine, so rest easy in the long term. I can't offer you any medical advice but feel free to PM me.

In retrospect, I think I had allowed him to heat up a bit too fast although I was monitoring it with a digital thermometer and gave him Ibruprufen shortly before he collapsed. I was trying to make him comfortable as he was shivering a bit beforehand but I think 'cool' is better to allow the body to regulate better so shoulda had only one layer on and maybe just a sheet as a blanket.

Thanks for your kind words of encouragment and advice, I really do appreciate that

Happened to us about 4 months ago when the wee fella was 6 months old. Started fitting and then stopped breathing and went blue. I usually back myself to be useful in emergencies but I completely went to bits - as Nostromo said - wailing and running around aimlessly with my floppy boy. Ended up rescue breathing to get him to start breathing again. As others have said, emergency services in NZ are the best. from the first response team to the ambulance staff and then Starship, they were all fantastic.

Single scariest time in my life by a mile. Still freaks me out thinking about it.

My daughter (who's now 16) had a couple of febrile convulsions when she was about a year old, and feeling a bit poorly. The first time, she was sitting on my lap drinking from her bottle when I noticed that she had dropped it. Then she started twitching violently, and I saw that her eyes had rolled back and she was frothing at the mouth. I totally panicked and sprinted for the phone but could hardly talk to the 111 operator. They got me to calm down and said to take off her clothes and sponge her with a damp, warm cloth. By the time the ambulance arrived (about 10 minutes later) she was conscious again, but we spent the night in hospital with her, having tests and being constantly monitored. The whole experience was completely terrifying for us.

I discovered that febrile convulsions are relatively common, and can happen when the child has a very high temperature (which seems to trigger some sort of short-circuiting in the brain), that the fits are unlikely to have long-term effects, and that while no-one seemed to know why some kids get them, they are (at least in our case) largely preventable. We were also told that most kids grow out of them by about four.

In spite of that however, every time she got the slightest cold or whatever, I would keep her with me, take her temperature constantly, and at the merest hint of heat, would give her paracetamol, sponge her down etc. She did have another fit a few months later while I was at work, but the babysitter (who only told us about it that night) claimed she was able to keep it under control.

One thing I did notice when she was sick was that she was more prone to getting a really high fever (40+) than our other kids, but that her illnesses often had a shorter duration than the others'. She's absolutely fine now, by the way! So hopefully that is reassuring.

My son had febrile convulsions. He was in bed screaming and I knew instantly something was really wrong, so run in to get him and he had gone silent and limp and was getting really blue, he looked dead. On the phone to 111 they said not to resuscitate, which I said ok, but was thinking yeah right, then he starting breathing and screaming again. He alternating between these two states for the next 15mins till the ambulance arrived, then he slept in my arms for the next two hours solid through driving into town, and various medical checks. Still don't know why they would say not to resuscitate, but he is fine now. He's had a few minor floppy moments since but nothing since he was about 2.5yrs old, he's nearly 5 now. I still keep him on regular pamol when he gets sick with a temperature. It's rapid change in temperature that causes them, rather then high temps. When I took my boys temp it was 32, so in his case probably caused by rapid fall in temp. The convulsions don't tend to have any lasting effects and kids outgrow them, so scarey as but relatively harmless.